NB25-29 Women: Alvarez Holds Off Murphy for the Win

• Jesse Alvarez (Redding, CA) took the NB25-29 title in 4:59:54 (11:26/mi), finishing 5th among all women at the line.
• Melena Murphy (Emeryville, CA) was runner-up in 5:11:07 (11:52/mi), with a gap of 11:13 separating the two finishers.
• Alvarez posted the 5th-fastest women's split on the 24 Miles→Finish stretch, closing hard when it mattered most.
• Murphy answered with the 5th-fastest women's split on the 6.43 Miles→10.92 Miles segment, making her early-race move count — just not enough.

With only two women toeing the line in the NB25-29 field, this was a straightforward but genuine contest across 26.2 miles through San Francisco's famously rolling terrain. Jesse Alvarez set the tone from the gun, running a steady 11:26/mi average and holding a consistent position in the broader women's field — tracking between 4th and 6th throughout before settling 5th at the finish.

Melena Murphy ran her own race a step behind, sitting between 7th and 8th among the women for much of the morning before climbing to 7th by the final miles. Her best moment came in the middle stretch — the 6.43 to 10.92 mile segment — where she turned in the 5th-fastest women's split on that leg, suggesting she had real pop in the middle miles.

Alvarez, though, had the stronger finish. She logged the 5th-fastest women's split on the 24 Miles→Finish segment, meaning she was still moving well when many others were fading on the back end of a warm, humid San Francisco morning. That closing kick ultimately tells the story: Murphy made her move mid-race, but Alvarez had the legs when it counted, crossing in 4:59:54 to claim the NB25-29 title by 11 minutes and 13 seconds.